Domestic appliance



May 12, 1959 H. M.'SNYDER DOMESTIC APPLIANCE Filed March 8, 1957 INVENTOR.

Harold M. Snyder BY g H/s Attorney United States PatentO DOMESTIC APPLIANCE Application March 8, 1957, Serial No. 644,850 7 'Claims. (Cl. 312-276) This invention relates to a domestic appliance and more particularly to a door arrangement for a cabinet and to the linkage mechanism for actuating the doors of the cabinet.

One of the disadvantages of present-day cabinet door arrangements is that they do not aitord complete access to the cabinet when the doors are in an open position. Where slidable or swingable doors are used there usually is some overlapping of the doors when they are in an open position so that access to some part of the cabinet is usually cut ofi.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a cabinet with a door arrangement whereby the doors are moved to open positions wherein the entire interior of the cabinet is accessible for use.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a cabinet with a plurality of doors which are controlled in their movement by the linkage mechanism of this invention, the mechanism being so arranged that all the doors may be opened by movement of a single door, and where, in a certain mode of operation, opening of one of the doors does not move the other cabinet doors.

A more specific object is to provide a cabinet with at least two doors that are movable between closed and open positions, one of the doors being pivoted to the cabinet and the other of the doors being pivoted to a movable member that is supported by the cabinet and which is movable with respectthereto, there being linkage mechanism connected between the movable member and the door that is pivoted to the cabinet, the linkage mechanism moving the door that is pivoted to the cabinet to an open position when the movable member is moved in one direction.

Still another object is to provide a cabinet with a door that is pivotedto a transverse rod member, the rod member having gears fixed thereto which mesh with racks that are fixed to the cabinet whereby when the door is moved to a horizontal position below the cabinet, the door may be moved rearwardly under the cabinet and will be guided in its movement by the rack and pinion arrangement.- v

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a cabinet provided with the door arrangement of this invention;

Figure 2 is a side view, partly in section, of the cabinet shown in Figure 1 and showing the linkage arrangement for actuating the doors of the cabinet;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the doors in an open position;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 4-4 of Figure 2; and

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional 5-5 of Figure 4.

view taken along line the cabinet.

v. Patented May 12, 1959 Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to Fig. 1, a cabinet generally designated by the reference numeral 10, is shown. The cabinet as illustrated is of the type that is adapted to be'wall supported and which may be used to store kitchen utensils and the like, although it will be apparent that the door arrangement and door mechanism of this cabinet are of general utility in any type of cabinet structure. The cabinet 10 is provided with a pair of upper doors 12 and 14 which are pivoted together at 16. The door 12 is pivoted to the top wall 18 of the cabinet at 20. The cabinet is also provided with a lower door 22 that closes the remainder of the access opening 24 not closed by upper doors 12 and 14 when the doors are in a closed position. When the doors are in an open position, as shown in Fig. 3, the front access opening 24 is substantially entirely exposed for easy access to the interinor of the cabinet. The cabinet may be provided with suitable shelves (not shown), for supporting kitchen utensils and the like.

The sides of the cabinet are formed by outer walls 26 and inner linkage supporting panels 28. Suitable linkage mechanism is disposed at each side of the cabinet between outer walls 26 and inner panels 28 for guiding and supporting the doors 12, 14 and 22 in their opening and closing movements. To'this end, each panel 24 carries a bracket 30 that has a horizontally extending slot 32. The slots 32 at either side of the'cabinet support a transverse cylindrical rod 34 that may be moved from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig. 3. A pair of pinion gears 36 are fixed to the transverse rod 34 at opposite ends thereof and mesh with racks 38 that are secured to bracket 30. The rod 34 thus rotates whenever it is moved horizontally in slot 32'. The door 22 is provided with brackets 40 having openings that rotatably engage the transverse rod 34. The door 22 is thus pivotally supported by the transverse rod 34 and when the rod is in the position of Fig. 2 the door 22 may be pivotally moved from a vertically disposed closed position to a horizontally disposed open position.

The linkage mechanism located at opposite sides of the cabinet is identical and is supported at each side by inner panels 28. This mechanism includes a driving link 42 that is pivotally connected to transverse rod 34. The link 42 is also pivotally connected to a link 44 that is in turn pivoted to inner panel 28 at 46. The link 42 at times drives a link 48 that is pivotally connected to link 42 at 50 and which is pivotally connected to link 52 at 54. The link 52 is pivotally connected to door 14 at 56 and is pivotally connected to panel 28 at 58.

With the arrangement described above and with the transverse rod 34 in the position shown in Fig. 2, it is apparent that door 22 may be moved between vertical and horizontal positions to expose the lower portion of This movement of the door 22 does not move doors 12 and 14 as the door 22 merely pivots around transverse rod 34. If the door 22 is in the position shown in Fig. 2 and is pushed inwardly beneath cabinet 10, the link 42 rotates clockwise thus moving link 48 upwardly. Upward movement of link 48 moves link 52 counterclockwise to move the doors to a folded-together open position as illustrated in Fig. 3. With this arrangement, if it is only desired to gain access to the lower portion of the cabinet, the door 22 is merely pivoted from a vertical to a horizontal position. If it is further desired to gain access to the entire cabinet, the door 22 may then be pushed in a horizontal direction to move transverse rod 34 in slot 32 and to actuate the linkage mechanism to move doors 12 and 14 to their open positions. Each end of the door 22 is moved together and one end does not move ahead of the other due to the provision of the pinion gears 36 which mesh with rack 38 and which insure that the ends of rod 34 move in unison in slot 32. When it is desired to move the cabinet doors to a closed position from the position shown in Fig. 3 the door 22 is moved rightwardly in Fig. 3 until the transverse rod 34 reaches the position of Figv 2 whereupon the door 22 may be pivoted to a closed position.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be and second positions, a second door pivoted to said rod member and pivotally movable between a vertically disposed closed position and a horizontally disposed open position, said second door being disposed substantially below the lower wall of said cabinet when said rod member is in said second position, and a plurality of link members connecting said rod member and said first door, whereby movement of said rod member from its first position toward its second position produces movement of said first door toward an open position.

2. A kitchen cabinet having a vertically arranged front access opening, a first door having an upper section pivoted to said cabinet and a lower section hingedly connected to said upper section, said first door closing an upper portion of said access opening when in a closed vertical position, a pair of bracket members secured to said cabinet at the lower end thereof, said bracket members each having a horizontally extending slot and each having rack teeth located above said slot, a transverse rod member slidable in said slots, a pair of gear members fixed to said rod member and engaging said rack teeth, a second door pivoted to said rod member and pivotally movable between a vertical closed position and a horizontal open position wherein said second door is disposed below said bracket members, and linkage mechanism connecting said rod member and said first door, whereby movement of said rod in said slots in one direction produces an opening movement of said first door, said second door being slidable with said rod member in said direction when said second door is in its open horizontal position whereby said second door is used to actuate said rod member.

3. A cabinet structure having a vertically disposed access opening closable by a first door having an upper section that is pivoted to the cabinet and a lower section hingedly connected to said upper section, said first door pivotally movable between a vertical closed position and a horizontal open position, a movable member supported by and movable with respect to said cabinet between a first position adjacent the front of the cabinet to a second position, a second door pivoted to said movable member and adapted for movement between a vertically disposed lower access opening closed position and an open horizontal position when said movable member is in said first position, and linkage mechanism connecting said movable member and said first door, whereby movement of said movable member from said first position toward said second position produces an opening movement of said first door.

4. A cabinet having a front access opening, a first door having an upper section pivoted to said cabinet and a lower section hingedly connected to said upper section, said first door closing a portion of said access opening when in a closed position, a second door pivoted to a member slidably movable with respect to said cabinet and closing the remainder of said access opening when in a closed position, and means connecting said first door and said slidably movable member, whereby sliding movement of said slidably movable member pivots said first door toward an open position.

5. A cabinet having an access opening, a sectional first door normally closing a portion of said access opening and movable to an open position whereby said sections fold upon each other, a second door normally closing at least a portion of the remainder of said access opening and movable between closed and open positions, a slidably movable member supporting said second door in its movement, and means connecting said slidable movable member and said first door whereby sliding movement of said slidably movable member moves said first door toward an open position.

6. A cabinet having a front access opening, a first door having an upper section pivoted to said cabinet and a lower section hingedly connected to said upper section, said first door closing a portion of said access opening, a rod member slidably supported by said cabinet for movement between first and second positions, a second door pivotally supported by said rod member and movable to a closed position for covering a portion of said access opening when said rod is in said first position, and link means connecting said rod and said first door whereby movement of said rod from its first position toward its'second position produces an opening movement of said first door.

7. A cabinet having first, second and third doors movable between open and closed positions, said'first and sec- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,249,932 Beal July 22, 1941 

